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Editorial
Still no resolution to alcohol insanity on the reservation
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
America banned the sale, production and transportation of alcohol from Jan. 16, 1920, until repeal went into effect Dec. 5, 1933.
The ban did have one desired effect -- the consumption of alcohol overall went down by half in the 1920s and stayed there until the 1940s.
Unfortunately, it also kick-started organized crime in America as rum-runners and bootleggers cashed in on demand and established illegal organizations still operating today.
By 1925, in New York City alone, there were 30,000 to 100,000 speakeasy clubs.
Eighty years later, the same conflict is playing out on South Dakota's Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, where the majority voted Tuesday to repeal prohibition, but where enough votes were challenged to leave the issue in question.
Handwritten results showed 1,645 tribal members favored repeal, 1,494 did not. However, 438 votes were challenged, meaning the outcome won't be known until they are checked.
U.S. prohibition was repealed when opponents made their case on issues of personal liberty, new tax revenues from legal beer and liquor as well as organized crime.
Many of the same issues are at play in the Pine Ridge, not so much organized crime, perhaps, but domestic violence and alcoholism.
As in national prohibition, money is a major factor, with four stores in Whiteclay, Nebraska, two miles south of Pine Ridge, selling millions of cans of beer a year.
While millions of dollars are flowing into the coffers of the liquor industry, none of the resulting tax money is available to deal with Indian Country alcohol problems such as domestic abuse, suicide, infant mortality, unemployment and violent crime.
Federal law bans the sale of alcohol on Native American reservations unless the tribal council allows it. Pine Ridge legalized alcohol for two months in the 1970s, but the ban was quickly restored. An attempt to lift prohibition in 2004 also failed.
As much as some of us wish they would, alcohol and the problems associated with it aren't going to go away. Let's hope the Pine Ridge insanity is resolved with a sensible plan to deal with reality.